Subtlety
by Scary Shinigami
Summary: She thinks he hates her. Sasuke hates cherry blossoms, after all. SasuSaku.


**Subtlety**

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Uchiha Sasuke had never liked her name. She wasn't sure why—fragility had always been something that she defined as beautiful—but Sasuke hated _cherry blossoms_, and he'd told her so once, when they were twelve.

He said that the life of a cherry blossom was short-lived, and that things in nature were too prone to the elements, open to attack. She'd laughed and accused him of being paranoid, but she should have taken his words to heart.

In the time that he was gone, she second-guessed herself a lot. For five years, she gave way to insecurities.

The hole that his revenge had carved into her was something that she used to walk around during the daytime and fall into during the night. His pain became hers; his absence meant loneliness even if she still had her family.

At first it was all she could do not to break down and cry in the streets. …But then Tsunade came along and gave her a good kick or two in the rear. She taught her how to hide behind perfect chakra control, and after a while, her false confidence became real.

…Of course, her mask of faith fell away when Sasuke came waltzing back into her life. The day after he returned to the village, she spent twenty minutes in front of her bathroom mirror, giving herself what she would later claim had been a pep-talk.

None of her abilities amounted to anything when she really got a good look at herself.

Like a mantra, she repeated inside her head, _You are strong, you are strong…you are not weak, you will never be weak again, _but these words cracked and shattered when she banged her fist against the mirror.

Before her outburst, she had stared at her reflection and had been—for a total of about five seconds—completely and utterly horrified with what she saw. The stark white of her complexion had never bothered her so badly, and her collarbones had never seemed to poke out so much. They looked like they were jutting out beneath her skin.

When she stared down at her hands (_these hands can destroy mountains_, she told herself), she was shocked to find that her fingers were tiny. The bones were small and birdlike, breakable.

…And then there was the pink of her hair, bringing her back to Sasuke's cherry blossom comment from so many years ago.

Angry, she made two fists at her side and curled them so tightly that she heard a knuckle crack. Her escape into the hallway was hasty, and when she slammed the door on her way out, the bathroom mirror fell off of the wall behind her.

Naruto was waiting for her at Ichiraku, and near him was Sasuke, leaning against the wall in a casual slouch and looking every bit like he hadn't been _missing _for half a decade.

She'd never been so tempted to hit him.

Kakashi was reading his favorite orange book on the stool next to Naruto, and he glanced up every so briefly when he sensed her presence.

"Hello, Sakura," He said pleasantly.

She nodded and smiled and unclenched her fists, unaware that her nails had been digging into her palms the entire time she ran from her apartment. There were now stinging crescents imprinted in her flesh, but thankfully, no blood.

Naruto spit out a mouthful of noodles and spun around to face her.

"S-pth-Sa…SAKURA-CHAN!"

And she was promptly pulled into a large, rib-crushing hug.

After she'd managed to return the hug (and had successfully pried him off), she turned to face Sasuke expectantly. He stared at her for a second, raised an eyebrow in question, and pushed himself off the wall, remaining silent.

"…Hi," She tried hesitantly, reaching her hand out in an uncertain gesture. "Hi, Sasuke-kun. How've you been?"

He regarded her outstretched hand with the same arched brow and blank expression, and after a moment he finally turned away and said, "Aa."

She watched him sink his hands deep into his pockets and tried not to feel devastated that he was the only one who hadn't said her name in a proper greeting.

…But then a stupid grin found its way onto her face as she realized something:

It was okay.

(He'd never liked it anyway.)

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**_Fin.

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**Author'****s Notes: **That was actually a happy ending, thank you. …You just have to look sort of closely. I'm not trying to Sakura-bash; I'm just trying to prove that Sakura should learn to read between the lines a little. Sasuke never truly says that he hates her during the anime, and if he really did hate her, he could probably find a way to let her die and then make it look like an accident later.

So, see? He does care! …And I'm sure he likes her name very much. ;)

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